Incompatibility between Islam and Human Rights

The Islamic law has been identified as one of the multifaceted, complex and misunderstood law guiding the human conducts in the international systems. The Sharia law is complex because it is grossly over-generalized and understudied. Regretfully, the Islamic laws are often linked with a discriminatory and inhuman treatments having no respect for the human rights. The debate that remains unsolved is about whether Islamic law is compatible with the universal human right standards.

The UDHR is recognized as the foundation of modern human right law because it does not focus on a particular racial, ethnic, political and religious world. While the UDHR principles have been accepted by non-Muslim countries, the UDHR has been contested in the Muslim countries. Moreover, Muslim states such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran have challenged the universality of human rights based on the argument that the Sharia law has already guaranteed human rights, thus, UDHR has no relevant. This argument contributes to the on-going debate about the universality of human rights.

The Sharia law and human right law are the essential segments used to regulate human behaviors in the Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries. However, there still a debate with regards to the compatibility between Islam and human rights. It is essential to realize that many Muslim states adopt the Sharia law as the guiding principles of human conducts. (Entelis, 1996). While both the Sharia law and UDHR have made provisions for a respect of human being, there is a still a fundamental clash between Islam and human rights. When people argue about the human rights, they are referring to the principles of the UDHR, and one of the guiding principles of the UDHR is Article 18 that provides the freedom of religion, conscience and thought. The Article 2 also states that everyone is entitled to freedoms and rights to language, political and religion. Despite the stated principles of the UDHR, Islam does not recognize the absolute equality between men and women. After the ratification of UDHR in 1948, Saudi Arabia abstained themselves from ratifying the Declaration claiming that it violated the Sharia law. Entails, (1996) argues that Muslim countries have voiced their objections by pointing out that the international community cannot hold them responsible for the human right principles. A fundamental incompatibility between Islam and human rights is the issue of women rights. Typically, there is an incompatibility between Islamic and international human rights with regards to the women status. Guardian (2008) presents a report revealing there is a conflict between the UK law and Sharia law revealing that Islamic legal code is incompatible with the English law with regards to the human rights legislation. The report reveals that many Lebanon women seek for the asylum in the UK to escape the Sharia law. (Shahid, 2016).

Ahmari-Moghaddam, (2012) contributes to the argument by pointing out that while the UDHR has been able to offer the human rights provisions without discrimination to the minority group, the Sharia law fails to provide the human rights provisions to the minority groups. It is revealed that Islam fails to offer religious equality to all people. While the religious pluralism is allowed under the Sharia law, in practice, non-Muslim minorities have not been able to achieve a full religious liberty. For example, non-Muslim minorities are encouraged to convert to Muslim, however, it is often challenging when Muslims intend to convert to other religions. A conversion from Islam to other religions is generally viewed as a revolt against God, and this action may encounter severe legal and social sanctions in many Muslim states. The concept apostasy is referred as renunciation or abandonment of Muslim religion to other religions. While the Islamic principle holds that there should be no compulsion in religious, nevertheless, the traditional Islamic law implements harsh punishment for apostasy between a life imprisonment for women and death penalty for men. In essence, the Sharia law views the action of apostasy as forbidden known as Haram. While the human right law affirms freedom of religion, however, the Sharia law forbids freedom of religion, and a change from Islam to other religions is highly restricted. Some Islamic states inflict a penalty of capital punishment for converting to other religions.

Rehman, (2014) uses the rejectionist theoretical approach to argue about the incompatibility of Islam with human rights. The author points out that "Sharia can never be compatible with the human rights law". (Rehman, (2014 p 5) The Court of Human Rights in Europe also points out that Sharia is incompatible with the human rights laws and principles of democracy. The Court affirms that it is difficult to respect human rights with a supporting regime. For example, the legal status of women under the Sharia law is incompatible with the legal status of women under the UDHR. Women have the same rights with men under the traditional UDHR. Under Sharia law, women rights are limited. Women do not have freedom of movement. In most Muslim countries, a woman cannot move in the public unless accompanied by a man. Moreover, the freedom of religion is not possible in many Muslim countries. In Iraq, the legal provision places a restriction on freedom of religion, and a conversion from Islam to other religion carries a capital punishment.

Hassan, (1999) argued that women continue to be subjected to injustice and oppression in the name of Islam. In the Muslim societies, when people talk about human rights, women rights are often excluded. The Muslim societies are often more concerned about the women sexuality and women bodies rather than the absolute rights making many women to be a target of fundamental human rights violations. Moreover, male children are regarded as gifts from God in the Muslim countries while female children are discriminated against right from birth. In many countries, the legal ages to marry are between 18 and 21, In Islam, most women are obliged to marry when they are minor. While Islamic legislation seeks to protect the right of women, however, women cannot claim the same rights with their husbands. Although, Quran allows polygamy in order to protect widows and orphans, however, Muslims use polygamy without a respect to the Quranic teaching. While Quran gives women the rights to receive inheritances, women are not entitled to receive an inheritance in the Muslim society.

This study argues that the Quran, the Holy books, supports the application of human rights, however, people who practice the Muslim religion do not follow the Quranic doctrines. Analysis of Quranic Holy book that guides the practice of Muslim religion reveals that the Book supports freedom of human being and condemns human bondage of authoritarianism, slavery, racism, tribalism, and sexism and other practices that inhibit and prohibits human beings from achieving their goals. From the Quranic perspectives, God provides fundamental human rights to all humans when they are born, and these rights allow humans to develop their inner resources. Typically, no human agency or temporal ruler can abolish the rights created by God. Mawdudi, (2014) point out that Quran stipulates fundamental human rights similar to the rights in the UDHR such as the right to life. Quran states that the first basic human right is to respect human life. The Holy Quran states:

"Whosoever kills a human being without (any reason like) man slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as though he had killed all mankind. .." (Quran 5:32). In this case, no human being has the right to take the life of other human beings. Despite the Quranic teaching, the world has witnessed the issue where human life is taken in the Islamic countries without a respect the Quranic teaching. In Iraq, conversion from Islam to other religions carries a capital punishment.

The Holy Quran also allows the right to freedom. According to the Quranic teaching, a woman must agree to put herself in Hijab, and not to be forced by her husband or the society. However, in the Muslim world, women have been forced to be under Hijab without their consents. Moreover, the Holy Quran stipulates right of equality and all human beings are equal. In other words, Quran recognizes human equality irrespective of race, color or nationality. Almighty God states in the Holy Quran:

"O mankind, we have created you from a male and female." In other words, all human beings are brothers to one another. They all are the descendants of one father and one mother. "And we set you up as nations and tribes so that you may be able to recognize each other" (Quran 49:13).

Despite the stipulated Quranic teaching, men and women are not equal in the Islamic countries. Women are not allowed to acquire education in the Islamic countries. It is essential to realize that Quran plays highest emphasize in the acquisition of knowledge, and Quran does not discriminate between men and women with regards to knowledge acquisition. The Surat 96 reveals that the core of Islamic worldview is based on the acquisition of knowledge. Despite the Quranic teaching, women are denied the education in the Islamic countries because of the general believe that the role of women is the kitchen. The Quran also lays emphasize on the right to work. Men and women have the right to work and seek for a gainful employment. However, percentages of women who are gainfully employed in the Muslim countries are very low since women are at a disadvantage in education. Moreover, man and woman are created by God, and the Quranic description of marriage shows women "are your garments/ And you are their garments" (Surah 2: Al-Baqarah: 187) implying mutuality, closeness, and equality. However, Muslim cultures have relegated women to a position of slave-like creatures and puppets.

Assadollahi, (2016) argue women have no rights under the Sharia law, and they only have the rights to fewer inheritance compared to men. In Iran, the modesty law mandates women to dress in a modest way or face the penalty of law, however, men are allowed to dress flamboyantly. The author also argues that a man has the right to marry up to four wives, and can divorce his wife at will by making a declaration in the court without her wife consent. However, a man consent is required before a woman can divorce his husband. Under the Islamic legal code, man is allowed to have a temporary wife, which is a form of Islamic prostitution, and some people referred it as a pleasured marriage. In the Muslim countries such as Yemen, and Saudi Arabia, a minimum age of marriage is between 12 and 13 for women. In Yemen, more than 52% of girls marry before the age of 18.